Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions, will depend on spin bowling to back up their left-arm strike bowler Chaminda Vaas, the tournament's leading wicket taker.

Ponting is aware of the threat the Sri Lanka spinners Muttiah Muralitharan, captain Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva can pose, but believes his side can cope and make it seven wins out of seven in the tournament.

"I saw Sri Lanka bowled four spinners against South Africa and a few sides have liked to do that against us over the past few years," Ponting said.

"They have had some success against us but that has usually been on fairly ordinary pitches.

"The one at Centurion has not turned much in this tournament and speaking to (Canadian batsman) John Davison he said the one they played on there was outstanding."

The Sri Lanka spinners gave a perfect demonstration of their prowess on a surface offering them any encouragement in last September's Champions Trophy semi-final in Colombo when they sent Australia crashing to defeat.

On that occasion many of the batsmen looked bereft of ideas but Ponting said they would not fall into that trap this time.

"It will be left to individuals to formulate their own game plans but I am sure we will speak as a group about it," he said.

"In Colombo they caught us unaware because we didn't really know how well Aravinda would bowl and we didn't expect the ball to turn as much as it did."

Australia's batsmen will also have to address the issue of shot selection after several members of the top order appeared guilty of recklessness at the start of their ultimately successful run chase against England on Sunday.

"One-day cricket is all about summing up the situation and that is something we didn't do as a top order against England, or against Pakistan in our first match," Ponting said.

"We have got to learn to get through the tougher periods as if we have wickets in hand after 35 or 40 overs we will really be able to press on to a big score."

Since their loss in Colombo, the Australians have obtained some form of revenge by winning three out of four encounters in the recent tri-series at home as Sri Lanka's batsmen struggled to come to terms with the pace and bounce of Australian pitches.

"If the wicket is carrying through and has some pace and bounce I am sure we will be testing them out if we can," Ponting said.

"I am sure they will still be thinking of their time in Australia as apart from one match they played some pretty ordinary cricket. It is certainly something we will take into the game."

A win for Australia is likely to confirm its place in the semi-finals with two matches still to play in the Super Sixes, against Kenya and New Zealand, but Ponting is not yet thinking about that scenario.

"It's the same old story really, we just want to keep up our winning momentum," he said.

"Securing a place in the semi-finals would be nice but really all we are looking at is winning the next match in front of us so that if we do get to the semi-final we are in the best possible form."

Ponting is also aware that his side is likely to get little or no support from the locals despite South Africa's elimination from the tournament, given the fierce sporting rivalry that exists between the two countries.

"We have not had too much support here apart from a small pocket of Australian fans and the whole feeling is that no-one wants to see us win," he said.

"I am sure that will grow now South Africa are out but a lot of the guys have played all around the world in different places and they will be used to the crowds."

Australia's one injury concern is fast bowler Jason Gillespie, who has missed their last two matches with a sore right heel.

Gillespie had the heel scanned on Tuesday and team officials will await the results before deciding what to do next.

In Gillespie's likely absence, Australia is expected to go into the match with an unchanged side from the team who beat England by two wickets on Sunday.

Sri Lanka possess potentially explosive batting, headed by opener Jayasuriya. Marvan Atapattu stroked a wonderful century against South Africa and Da Silva revived memories during the same match of his performances in the 1996 tournament.

Yet they can be disconcertingly fragile as they showed during their 53-run loss to Kenya, a performance condemned by Jayasuriya as amateurish.